lesunra
Joined Oct 2004
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Reviews57
lesunra's rating
This is the lowest budget of the Philip Marlowe movies. I guess The Lady in the Lake didn't do enough box office the previous year so someone decided to go cheap with this one.
It is still pretty good though I first thought George Montgomery was too young for the role. He was in his thirties at the time so this case may be on the earlier side of Marlowe's career as a PI, not long after being fired from the DA office.
Seeing Conrad Janis in this was a big surprise considering how much of his work I stumbled across on 30 to 40 years after this was released. I have a Nancy Guild Bowman trading card which makes seeing her in this kind of funny to me. She was just starting out in movies and mostly quit after a handful of roles but she turned up in a trading card set as a new up and Comer with the likes of Jane Greer, Ann Blyth and Yvonne De Carlo.
The story makes this movie worth seeing. The plots have all the usual twists and turns but I didn't expect the conclusion. Classic Chandler.
Not the best remembered of the Marlowe movies, not so well distributed I guess maybe the cast(I prefer Montgomery in the role to Bogart who is always Sam Spade from Maltese Falcon when he plays a PI.)
It is still pretty good though I first thought George Montgomery was too young for the role. He was in his thirties at the time so this case may be on the earlier side of Marlowe's career as a PI, not long after being fired from the DA office.
Seeing Conrad Janis in this was a big surprise considering how much of his work I stumbled across on 30 to 40 years after this was released. I have a Nancy Guild Bowman trading card which makes seeing her in this kind of funny to me. She was just starting out in movies and mostly quit after a handful of roles but she turned up in a trading card set as a new up and Comer with the likes of Jane Greer, Ann Blyth and Yvonne De Carlo.
The story makes this movie worth seeing. The plots have all the usual twists and turns but I didn't expect the conclusion. Classic Chandler.
Not the best remembered of the Marlowe movies, not so well distributed I guess maybe the cast(I prefer Montgomery in the role to Bogart who is always Sam Spade from Maltese Falcon when he plays a PI.)
Ulli Lommel was like the Rainer Werner Fassbinder of horror movies. He must have learned Fassbinder's exhaustive work ethic first hand. I mean 66 directoral credits. Ridiculous amount.
To me, this film is a large budget companion to The Demons of Ludlow directed by Bill Rebane in the same location. Both have similar plots, but this one is derivited of the Demons movie. This movie gets better remembered because it clearly has a larger budget and some Hollywood acting talent which Demons lacks. You'll see the same actors in smaller roles because they are still pretty good but they aren't Donald Pleasance, Paul Willson or Robert Walker Jr either.
The production values are better too making for better effects. Lommel no doubt had better financial backing but he also had loads of experience making these films.
Generally, the story is a bit slow and some of it doesn't quite make sense to me like why what starts the revenge push does it? Surely other things happened over the course of 300 years.
The.most unsettling thing about this movie is the actions of the locals and how vague they are in dropping hints of what's to come. Their intended victims never had a chance. If the point of view were switched to one of the victims, this would be as intense as the Wicker Man.
To me, this film is a large budget companion to The Demons of Ludlow directed by Bill Rebane in the same location. Both have similar plots, but this one is derivited of the Demons movie. This movie gets better remembered because it clearly has a larger budget and some Hollywood acting talent which Demons lacks. You'll see the same actors in smaller roles because they are still pretty good but they aren't Donald Pleasance, Paul Willson or Robert Walker Jr either.
The production values are better too making for better effects. Lommel no doubt had better financial backing but he also had loads of experience making these films.
Generally, the story is a bit slow and some of it doesn't quite make sense to me like why what starts the revenge push does it? Surely other things happened over the course of 300 years.
The.most unsettling thing about this movie is the actions of the locals and how vague they are in dropping hints of what's to come. Their intended victims never had a chance. If the point of view were switched to one of the victims, this would be as intense as the Wicker Man.
I mean, I ask someone out for a date, she asks what will we see thinking it's new or in the movie theaters, I have to kind of lie about what I feel like watching. I might be feeling like seeing Alien Contamination, Cataclysm, Teenage Zombies, both versions of Dracula Vs Frankenstein or Scum of the Earth. This show sort of splits the difference. In the past not even MST3K riffing was enough, I was threatened with "you'll never see me again if we watch that s--- (Blood Waters of Dr Z) again", yes we broke up over a year later. Yes that episode is still great (movie has an amazing opening, truly). They all are great eventually. Some are instant classics but some take some time for the viewer to get to like because the movie isn't your cup of tea. For example, I never enjoyed giant monster movies so the Gamera, Godzilla and Gorgo episodes didn't do anything for me for a long time. Still never warmed up to Quest of the Delta Knights but people love that one.
The people who hate this show or think anyone can talk over a movie and crack jokes at how bad it is are wrong. This is a comedy show done by professional comedians, jokes written by professionals beforehand while watching the movie a few times. The jokes are scripted and the delivery and timing need to be perfect which it often was to generate a laugh. If you are sitting with other people and watching something like Mutiny in Space, or Body Fever, you're not thinking like a comedian. That's the difference so the people thinking anyone is that creative are wrong.
There's been attempts to keep this format alive since the shows original run but the fan made attempts at the format and formula I appreciate the most though they never had the resources or time to do many. One called Incognito Cinema Warriors and Mystery Fandom Theater 3000 (they somehow matched the delivery style of the original show too). I believe they were local comedians as well and the jokes were definitely scripted.
In recent years Frank Coniff and Trace Beaulieu tour performing live as The Mads as a two people version of Cinematic Titanic which had multiple people from the show riffing on movies again (something born from the 2007 writers strike I believe). There is the MST3K reboot which I only saw a few episodes of and it's OK (not a big streaming guy, it's better seeing this live), and of course Rifftrax which features the final lineup of MST3K from the 90s and has been working for about 20 years. Alot of hit or misses there but what can you expect after 20 years of doing it?
Basically if you're into this style of humor you already know all about this anyway, if not or feel the need to defend these movies, then it's not for you. I developed a fondness for these movies through this show and do watch things like Night Fright, The Yesterday Machine, Zontar, Brain Machine and Curse of the Headless Horseman without the riffing.
The people who hate this show or think anyone can talk over a movie and crack jokes at how bad it is are wrong. This is a comedy show done by professional comedians, jokes written by professionals beforehand while watching the movie a few times. The jokes are scripted and the delivery and timing need to be perfect which it often was to generate a laugh. If you are sitting with other people and watching something like Mutiny in Space, or Body Fever, you're not thinking like a comedian. That's the difference so the people thinking anyone is that creative are wrong.
There's been attempts to keep this format alive since the shows original run but the fan made attempts at the format and formula I appreciate the most though they never had the resources or time to do many. One called Incognito Cinema Warriors and Mystery Fandom Theater 3000 (they somehow matched the delivery style of the original show too). I believe they were local comedians as well and the jokes were definitely scripted.
In recent years Frank Coniff and Trace Beaulieu tour performing live as The Mads as a two people version of Cinematic Titanic which had multiple people from the show riffing on movies again (something born from the 2007 writers strike I believe). There is the MST3K reboot which I only saw a few episodes of and it's OK (not a big streaming guy, it's better seeing this live), and of course Rifftrax which features the final lineup of MST3K from the 90s and has been working for about 20 years. Alot of hit or misses there but what can you expect after 20 years of doing it?
Basically if you're into this style of humor you already know all about this anyway, if not or feel the need to defend these movies, then it's not for you. I developed a fondness for these movies through this show and do watch things like Night Fright, The Yesterday Machine, Zontar, Brain Machine and Curse of the Headless Horseman without the riffing.